Werther effect: what it is and how it relates to chain suicides

Exposure to news of suicides is related to an increase in these cases.

Suicide is one of the most frequent forms of death and ranks first in prevalence among unnatural deaths. Taking one's own life is an act in which the person actively seeks his or her own destruction, usually derived from profound psychological and/or physical suffering.

But this act not only has an effect on the person who commits suicide but, similar to other phenomena, it can generate a call effect that leads other vulnerable people to try to commit the same act. This is called the Werther effect..

The Werther effect: what is it?

The Werther effect is the phenomenon whereby the observation or notification of the suicide of one person leads another person to attempt to imitate that death. Also known as the copycat effect, it is a problem that has become epidemic in some cases. a problem that has become epidemic in some cases, leading to more suicides than ever before.leading to mass suicides.

This is an imitation behavior that usually occurs in at-risk populations who see suicide as a way of freeing themselves from suffering and who, upon observing one or more cases with similar characteristics to their own, may even think of taking their own lives. It is possible that the figure of the suicidal person or the act of suicide itself is idealized, or that the information available on the case in question makes them think of this as a way of acting.

In general, the Werther effect can occur with any news of suicide, but it is much more evident when the death in question is of a person who is especially referential or admired by a large number of people. Clear examples are the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and Kurt Cobain.. However, in the latter case the number of deaths was lower than expected, probably due to the difficulty of the method used by the singer.

On a more private level, suicide attempts and/or completed suicides by close family members, especially if they were a reference figure, pose a risk that other people in the environment may think about or even imitate the suicidal act. That is why it is more than advisable to work this risk directly with the relatives of people with completed suicide at a psychological level.

With regard to the population that may be more easily affected by this effect, it has been observed that as a general rule the younger population tends to be more easily influenced by this effect, especially if they are at risk of social exclusion.especially if they are at risk of social exclusion. Another aspect that has been observed to be of great importance is the treatment given to the information: if suicide is seen and reflected as something shocking and sensationalist, generating deep emotions, this can generate that other people also seek to generate such feelings in others through the media.

It has also been observed that cases of suicide by strange but relatively simple means tend to be more striking and imitated. Imitation tends to occur not only in the act of committing suicide but also in the methodology used. Also the level of detail and information regarding the case in question and the explanation of the methods used seem to facilitate more attempts of imitation by others.

Origin of the term and relation to suicide

The Werther effect receives its name from the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, in which the protagonist (Werther) ends his own life after having been after being in love for many years with Lotte, a married woman who cannot reciprocate. The publication of this novel in 1774 was a great success on a commercial level, being the equivalent of a current bestseller, but the authorities observed that many young people committed suicide in a similar way to the protagonist shortly thereafter.

In 1974, the sociologist David Phillips conducted a study in which he observed that the number of suicides increased with the publication of news related to this topic.This effect has come to be known as the Werther effect.

The Papageno effect

Throughout this article we have been able to see how the treatment of information concerning a completed suicide can, in fact, lead to the generation of an imitation effect in other people. Fortunately, however, we can also find an effect that we could consider the opposite: the Papageno effect,

This effect occurs when the information transmitted does not focus so much on the fact of suicide but on the existence of alternatives. By Papageno effect we refer to that situation in which the exposure to information has been about people who have succeeded despite adverse situations. similar to those that the person at risk may be experiencing, or even to cases of non-fatal suicide attempts in which the subject has found other ways to end his or her suffering without resorting to self-inflicted death.

This generates the visualization of alternatives to suicide and examples of coping that may persuade people at risk to attempt to take the same path. The name of the effect comes from a famous character in the Magic Flute, who precisely aborts a suicide attempt when three spirits make him think of alternatives.

Final consideration: the importance of working on prevention

All of the above should make us see the great importance of working on suicide prevention in many different areas. Suicide should not be seen as a desirable or shocking alternative, but as something to be avoided, and investment should be made in prevention at school and in the media, based on the observation of different ways of dealing with difficulties.

Regarding the informative or journalistic level, it is important to emphasize the need to give as little information as possible about the event in question but without making this action a simple fact, avoiding morbid elements and sensationalist treatment.

Although it may seem obvious Suicide should never be idealized or presented as something romantic or as a means to achieve goals. It could also be useful to present in the same news item possible mechanisms of help or alternatives of action for people in the same situation, or testimonies of cases in which alternatives to suicide have been found.

Bibliographical references:

• Álvarez Torres, S.M. (2012). Werther effect: a proposal for intervention in the faculty of Social Sciences and Communication. Norte de salud mental, 42: 48-55.
• Herrera, R.; Ures, M.B. and Martínez, J.J. (2015). The treatment of suicide in the Spanish press: Werther effect or Papageno effect? Rev.Asoc.Esp.Neuropsiq., 35 (125). 123-134.
• Müller, G. (2011). The Werther Effect- Information management of suicide by the Spanish press in the case of Antonio Flores and its impact on recipients. Cuadernos de Gestión de Información: 65-71.